One prior type of collating and binding system is disclosed in Riley et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,818, which is assigned to the assignee of the instant application. This collating and binding system discloses a plurality of signature feeders disposed adjacent a conveyor, and the signature feeders are individually operated by a programmable controller so that customized or personalized books are built in accordance with information contained on a magnetic tape. In addition, means are provided along the conveyor to detect defective books which are then removed from the conveyor by a diverter that is operated by the programmable controller.
As for the above system disclosed in Riley et al., it is particularly useful for permitting customized or personalized information and/or signatures to be placed in books. Moreover, in books produced during a single production run this can be done in such a manner that each book can be customized or personalized for the person to whom it is to be sent. Additionally, these books can be collated and bound in a desired sequence for easy bundling for the purpose of taking advantage of postal discounts or to meet the requirements of the U.S. Post Office.
The assembling of customized books in a particular sequence to permit bundling according to postal regulations is difficult to achieve in an optimal fashion in the event a defective book is detected, rejected and reordered by the system. In such a case, the Riley et al. system compares the mailing information of the defective book with the mailing information of the book adjacent the first signature feeder (or the "most recent book") to determine the optimal time to reorder the book. For example, if the defective book and the most recent book have the same zip code, the defective book can be immediately reordered and grouped with other books having the same zip code to obtain postal discounts. However, if the zip code of the most recent book is different than that of the defective book, then the defective book is reordered following the last book within the same sectional center facility, or SCF, destination. As these examples illustrate, the time for reordering is determined in accordance with a comparison of the mailing information of the defective book with the mailing information of the most recent book on the conveyor.
In some cases when a book is found to be defective and is reordered, the book may no longer qualify for a certain postal discount and may instead be subject to a higher postal rate. For example, a book may be originally classified in a discount classification along with other books to be delivered to the same five-digit zip code area. However, if this book is found to be defective and is reordered at a time such that it no longer is grouped with other books of the same zip code, then this book may not qualify for the discount postage rate previously applicable. The Riley et al. system noted above is not capable of generating an indication of the change in postage, if any, caused by the reordering of the defective book.
In some cases, it may also happen that the reordering of a defective book may cause not only the reordered book to be subject to a higher postal rate but also cause the other books with which the reordered book was originally grouped to be subject to a higher postal rate as well. This may occur because the remaining books may no longer meet the minimum requirements either in terms of number or weight, for the postal discount. While the Riley et al. system noted above is not capable of generating an indication of the change in postal rate of a group of books as the result of a reordering of one or more books in the group, another type of collating and binding system has been developed for successfully achieving just such an objective.
In particular, a unique collating and binding system which includes means for deriving an indication of postage increase caused by the rejection and reordering of defective books is disclosed in Wong et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,052. The Wong et al. system and patent, like the Riley et al. system and patent, has been assigned to the assignee of the instant application. While the Wong et al. system is particularly useful with collating and binding systems, it can be used in a more general sense to derive an indication of the postage required to mail any items which were gathered by a gathering system.
In this connection, the Wong et al. system includes a plurality of signature feeders which are used to deliver signatures to a plurality of stations along the collating conveyor. A computer controls the signature feeders to progressively assemble different groups of signatures on the conveyor and thereby build a series of books in an original or predetermined sequence to take advantage of postal discounts. Means are disposed along the conveyor for detecting a defective book and means responsive to the detecting means reject the defective book at a point downstream from the signature feeders.
Further, the Wong et al. system includes means for reordering the rejected book at a point in the sequence which is determined in accordance with a comparison of the postal information of the rejected book with the postal information of a book on the conveyor. This is typically the current or most recent book which is then being assembled by the system. The computer generates an indication of the incremental increase in postage for the reordered book based upon the point in the sequence at which the defective book was reordered and adds this increase to a precalculated indication of postage computed prior to collating and binding.
In Wong et al., means are included for generating an indication of the incremental increase in postage for a grouping of books which originally qualified for a postal discount but which no longer qualifies due to the reordering of one or more books in the group.
Also, Wong et al. provides means for reordering a defective book, which book originally qualified for a postal discount, at a point in the sequence which qualifies the book for another postal discount or, if this is not possible, at a point in the sequence which causes the book to be classified in the highest postal rate category.
While the Riley et al. system and the Wong et al. system both represent significant advances in the art, it will be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to be able to reorder a defective book in such a manner as to return it to its original location for inclusion in an original bundle for automatically ensuring maximal postal discounts.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the foregoing problems and achieving one or more of the resulting objectives.